Kendal food bank faces busiest ever months to start 2024

King's Food Bank, found at the Shakespeare Centre on Highgate, dealt with 569 referrals between January and March this year.

Compared to the same period last year, this represented a 10 per cent increase in the usage of their services as the Cost of Living Crisis still grips the county.

Read more: Kendal food bank needs your help after 'busiest ever' months | The Westmorland Gazette

The high number of referrals meant that the food bank provided 16,755 meals for people who would have otherwise not been able to afford to buy the food themselves.

A spokesman from King's said: "The past three months have been our busiest ever.

"We are grateful to everyone who has supported us over this time, every donation is so important and enables us to continue helping many in our local community."

In 2023, the food bank was met with 1,913 referrals, leading to 62,835 meals being shared with the local community.

This was a yearly increase of 10 per cent compared to 2022 which meant volunteers were not surprised to see this trend continuing.

"2023 was a hugely busy year for the food bank, quite the busiest time we have had without a doubt," said the spokesman.

"Year upon year, we are experiencing an increase in referrals and these first three months of 2024 have shown that this hasn't changed."

Despite the growing demand and pressure on the team to help people in the area, they remained committed to the cause.

The spokesman added: "Our numbers are only statistics but each number represents people who, without the help of the food bank, would grow hungry.

"Many times, people - including ourselves - ask how so many people would manage without this support."

At the time of writing, the food bank was in need of these items: tins of meat, meat in sauce, pasta sauce (jars or small pots), microwave rice, tins of pasta, tins of rice pudding, tins of fruit, and tins of custard.

You can find out more about the food bank and how to help here.